ME question

[Mickey's Girl]

How often do the buses leave the airport? On the hour, half hour? Also, if you are staying at the Beach Club, would the other resorts you stop at also be Epcot resorts? We are planning a trip in March and I can't decide whether to go with the free ME and run the risk of taking extra time to get to the hotel, or stick with Tiffany,who I know will have us there within a half hour or so Thanks for any insights!

 

[rosamindy]

Are you in a rush? ME took about 1.5 hours to get us to check in at our resort, but we didn't have to fetch our own luggage. Depending on how quickly you can retrieve your own luggage, Tiffany will probably be quicker.
As far as the other resorts on your run, they generally stick with a zone, so you probably will only be with other Epcot resorts.

 

[Gary M]

We just stayed at the YC and ME included CBR, YC, BC and BWI on our trips to and from MCO.

 

[CleveRocks]

How often do the buses leave the airport? On the hour, half hour? Also, if you are staying at the Beach Club, would the other resorts you stop at also be Epcot resorts? We are planning a trip in March and I can't decide whether to go with the free ME and run the risk of taking extra time to get to the hotel, or stick with Tiffany,who I know will have us there within a half hour or so Thanks for any insights!

The buses aren't pre-scheduled and don't run on exact times.

There's also no pre-set routes or grouping of resorts. It's a dynamic situation -- buses are dispatched and resorts are grouped onto one bus as a result of the need at that exact time. If you hung around the airport all day, whatever other resorts were grouped with the Beach Club on the first run of the day probably won't be grouped with the Beach Club two hours later.

When I used DME, on its 4th day of existence, it took 53 minutes from the time I got in the line at the DME counter until I was dropped off at CBR. Not bad considering the time on the road itself is about 30 minutes. Realize that by taking DME you'll skip waiting at baggage claim.

From what I've read here and elsewhere, on average there's not a significant difference in the time factor between DME and towncar (unless you use the grocery stop, in which case I'll bet the towncar is slower). If I were deciding which to use, I wouldn't consider the time factor, but rather I'd weigh the expense factor against the idea that a towncar is a personalized experience and DME is a group experience. I can understand that some people would rather pay for a private, personalized ride. For me, it was a no-brainer, I was all about saving $120 that I'd be happy to spend on my wife and kids at WDW.

The good news is, you can't go wrong because YOU'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!

- Eric